The African American Theatre Directory, 1816-1960: A Comprehensive Guide to Early Black Theatre Organizations, Companies, Theatres, and Performing Groups [Hardcover]

Bernard L. Peterson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0313295379 | ISBN-13: 978-0313295379 | Publication Date: May 30, 1997

A comprehensive directory of more than 600 entries, this detailed ready reference features professional, semi-professional, and academic stage organizations and theatres that have been in the forefront in pioneering most of the advances that African Americans have made in the theatre. It includes groups from the early 19th century to the dawn of the revolutionary Black theatre movement of the 1960s. It is an effort to bring together into one volume information that has hitherto been scattered throughout a number of different sources. The volume begins with an illuminating foreword by Errol Hill, a noted critic, playwright, scholar and Willard Professor of Drama Emeritus, Dartmouth College. Included in the volume are the earliest organizations that existed before the Civil War, Black minstrel troupes, pioneer musical show companies, selected vaudeville and road show troupes, professional theatrical associations, booking agencies, stock companies, significant amateur and little theatre groups, Black units of the WPA Federal Theatre, and semi-professional groups in Harlem after the Federal Theatre. The A-Z entries are supplemented with a classified appendix that also includes additional organizations not listed in the main directory, a bibliography, and three indexes for shows, showpeople, and general subjects. Cross referencing makes related information easy to find.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This is an excellent addition to the author's earlier works on African Americans in the American theater, including Contemporary Black American Playwrights and Their Plays (Greenwood, 1988). Here he offers a comprehensive guide to black theater organizations, theaters, groups, and so forth and brings to light an area of theatrical history hitherto underrepresented in most collections. The foreword, by Errol Hill (editor, The Theatre of Black Americans, Applause, 1986), whets the appetite and provides a good introduction to the scope of African American theater in the United States; the eight pages of information resources will prove useful to future researchers. There are also two helpful appendixes: one an alphabetical listing of theaters, halls, and performance spaces, the other a classification of organizations, groups, and companies by type. Unfortunately, there is no way of finding theaters by geographical location. Recommended for academic libraries and theater collections in both academic and larger public libraries.?Susan L. Peters, Emory Univ. Lib., Atlanta
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The more than 600 entries here describe professional, semiprofessional, and academic stage organizations and theaters from their beginnings up to the dawn of the black theater movement in 1960. Coverage includes selected vaudeville and road-show troupes, booking agencies, stock companies, and black units of the WPA Federal Theatre. Black-oriented theaters, such as the Apollo, and organizations, such as the Committee for the Negro in the Arts, are treated. Many entries are only several sentences long, but a few, such as one for the American Negro Theatre, are several pages. Entries note plays performed and cast members and directors, when known. When asterisks appear before a name, it means that the person is included in a forthcoming book by Peterson, Profiles of African-American Theatre People, 1816^-1960. Because of the amount of information collected, the author uses many abbreviations in entries to save space. Although their meanings are usually obvious, their presence makes the book awkward to read. References are provided at the end of many entries. The author is an emeritus professor of English and the author of several other reference works, including A Century of Musicals in Black and White [RBB Ja 1 94].

The book concludes with several appendixes, including a list of black-oriented or black-controlled theaters, halls, and performance spaces and a list of performing groups by type (e.g., minstrel companies, community theater groups). A lengthy bibliography is followed by indexes of names, organizations, and show titles. Libraries with strong collectio ns in theater or African American studies will want a copy of this book. However, the reader looking for a history of African American theater during this period will find it provides a wealth of details but no historical overview. Sandy Whiteley

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press (May 30, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0313295379
• ISBN-13: 978-0313295379
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,065,556 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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